You might not think of Titleist as a company that does game improvement irons, but their last few AP1 models have been amongst the best in the market.
The Titleist T300 iron takes this on to the next level with a cavity back iron that has been completely redesigned.
The cast head now features a deep undercut cavity that looks very clean and simple in the short irons from wedge to 8-iron.
From the 7-iron upwards things change with what looks like a power button in the back of the cavity.
Underneath it is a polymer that was developed in conjunction with the Titleist ball team to improve the sound and feel of the club at impact, as big cavities can get noisy.
The toe of the head also has a section for some dual density tungsten to be inserted in order to improve the MOI of the head and make it more forgiving.
It is not in the shorter irons as Titleist’s testing revealed that there was little benefit above 30° in loft.
The rest of the lofts are quite strong and the 4 to 8 irons are a degree stronger than the previous AP1.
However as you should know by now, this is all to achieve the same peak height and, as I found out when I took them on GC2, that is staying the same.
What didn’t stay the same was the performance, as the 2mph higher ball speed and 600 rpm lower spin gave an extra 7 yards with a 7-iron.
This was the same in the rest of the longer irons, so these clubs are built for speed, but they do it in such a measured way.
When you get down to the short irons, the 9-iron is the same loft as the T200 version and it goes about the same distance, so there could be a blending possibility here.
However the T300 could be regarded as a blended set in its own right with the different tungsten set ups. Therefore the need for doing this is minimal, unless you want to add a 4-iron to one of the other sets.
The wedges, which include a set P wedge and two gap wedges at 48° and 53°, now show the lofts on the soles, which I think is a great addition and should make gapping your set easier.
The T300 look is fairly similar to AP1 at address, with the clever use of the brushed chrome on the top line to contrast with the polished chrome on the back to trick your eye and minimise the width.
The longer irons continue the design of the rest of the set and look much better than the hollow versions of 718 AP1, which seemed a little out of place.
Titleist T300 Irons Verdict
Whilst the AP has gone from the name, the ethos of Advance Performance continues in the Titleist T300.
The looks are great, the sound and feel is very good for a cavity back iron of this size. The best thing I can say is that it doesn’t feel like a game improvement iron.
The short irons are very playable, even by single figure players, and the distance from the mid to long irons had me checking the screens more than once during testing.
When I was testing the Titleist 714 AP1 six years ago, I turned to my Titleist fitter Graeme, who is also single figure handicapper and said “I think I could game these” and he replied “yes I know, I have thought the same thing”.
Fast forward to 2019 and I turned to Graeme and said the same thing again and he said, “I know!” The intervening AP1s have been very good and regularly on our best buy list, but it’s only when you look back over time that you see the gems.
For me the 714 AP1 was a classic and I think the Titleist T300 is their best game improvement iron since. So whether you are a single figure handicapper or someone in the teens and higher, the T300 should be on your shortlist as you can game them too.